The endless loop of hope and despair of Bangladesh women's football team took a turn for the worse on Wednesday after some senior players boycotted the planned first training session with head coach Peter Butler, who returned to Dhaka following a contract extension recently.

According to sources inside the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), a section of senior players of the team skipped the training session, which was supposed to be held at the BUET ground, after having declined to sit for a meeting with the English coach.

Butler had guided the women's team to successful defence of SAFF Women's Championship in October last year, despite having been at odds with the senior players throughout the campaign in Kathmandu.

Despite the public rift between the coach and the senior players, BFF's women's wing chairman and executive committee member Mahfuza Akter Kiron had repeatedly insisted that Butler was the right person for the job. Eventually, Butler, a former English Premier League footballer, was handed a contract extension for two more years, which will see him guide the team AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers in June this year, the SAFF Championship and the Asian Games next year apart from FIFA friendlies.

The team comprising 30 players had started their preparation under assistant coach Mahbubur Rahman Litu from January 15 as part of preparation for two FIFA friendlies against hosts UEA on Feb 26 and March 2.

None of the players could be reached for a comment on the issue, but it was learnt that the players had also demanded a renewal of contracts, which had expired in October last year.

"I am working on this matter [dispute between players and the coach] and I can't tell you anything more until tomorrow," women's wing chairman Kiron told The Daily Star.

Asked whether they sat with the senior players before reappointing Butler following the dispute, Kiron said, "It is better to ask the BFF president about this because the BFF president reappointed Butler."

While it is true that Tabith, also a businessman and a politician, did make the final call on the coach's reappointment, women's football is Kiron's portfolio and it was her job to ensure the thaw between the coach and the senior players is broken before he takes charge of the team again.

Whether Butler is the sole reason for the training boycott or the fact that the unresolved issue of the contract extension of women footballers is involved here, the situation is a sad one for the players because they are the ones who are suffering. They are suffering because they are not treated with enough respect, whether in terms of meeting their financial demands or in terms of taking their opinion into consideration.